Chinese author Lao Ma has a simple approach to his short stories: In the face of life, everything is funny.
对于中国作家劳马来说，写短篇小故事有一个很简单的窍门：在生活面前，一切事情都很有趣。
Mr. Lao, the pen name of Renmin University of China professor Ma Junjie, says there are plenty of laughable things in daily life that fuel his satirical stories, which often span only a page or two.
“劳马”是中国人民大学(Renmin University of China)教授马俊杰的笔名。他说，日常生活中有许许多多令人捧腹大笑的事情，为他的讽刺小故事（通常只有一两页）提供了丰富的创作素材。
His work is part of a rising literary genre called flash fiction, in which stories are told in 300 to 1,000 words. In an era of Sina Weibo and WeChat, flash fiction is becoming fertile ground for China, with its brevity and humor.
他的作品隶属一个崛起中的文学流派――微小说，微小说的篇幅在300至1,000字之间。在新浪微博(Sina Weibo)和微信(WeChat)称雄的时代，微小说以其简洁和幽默而成为一块沃土。
'A lot of people are drawn to it because the era we're in is an age of short stories rather than the novels of Tolstoy,' said Chinese contemporary author Yan Lianke, who joined Mr. Lao in discussing flash fiction at the Bookworm Literary Festival in Beijing on Saturday.
在上周六的北京书虫文学节上，中国当代作家阎连科就“微小说”与劳马进行了讨论。他说，我们正处于一个短篇小说的时代，而不是托尔斯泰(Tolstoy)小说时代，这也是微小说吸引读者的原因所在。
Mr. Lao's tales take a humorous look at a variety of societal issues, with characters ranging from farmers to academics to civil servants.
劳马写故事擅用戏谑的眼光看各种社会问题，故事中的人物角色从农民到学者再到公务员，范围广泛。
In 'Silver Tongue,' one of Mr. Lao's stories from 'Individuals,' a collection of 55 stories that was translated into English last year, he writes about a man who visits an old classmate who is now an admired professor. The professor says he can't talk much because something is wrong with his throat. The man later finds out his old classmate can talk, but only when he's paid large sums of money. In 'A View of the Hills,' a young boy writes a letter to a mayor, describing his desire to view the hills from his balcony, which he can no longer see because of pollution. The mayor is moved by the boy's letter and writes, ' What this child says is very important...Be sure to make every effort to restore this child's eyesight!'
劳马的作品《个别人》中包含55个小故事，去年被译成英文版。其中一篇题为《金嘴》的故事中，主人公去拜访一位如今已是教授、受人尊崇的老同学。两人见面后，教授称因喉疾无法多讲话。但随后主人公发现，老同学并非不能多说话，而是唯有付以重金才能开其金口。在《看山》中，一个小男孩给市长写信，信中说因为污染严重，他无法再从家中的阳台眺望到远山。市长被这封信深深地打动，回信写道，这个孩子说的事情非常重要……一定要竭尽全力恢复他的视力！
Mr. Lao's stories provide a refreshing take on a culture that's often mistaken as having no sensor of humor. 'Since I was small, I've been insufficiently serious,' Mr. Lao told a crowd at the festival.
劳马的小说让人们对于常常被误解为没有幽默感的中国文化有了全新的认识。他在文学节上对大家说，从小我就是一个不太严肃的人。
The allure of micro fiction comes at a time when China's leaders are beginning to worry about the population's interest in reading, as video games, TV shows and movies dominate the entertainment landscape. Mr. Yan, who was last year shortlisted for a Man Booker International Prize, and also writes short stories, joked that China's political leaders are their ideal readership. 'Flash fiction is a good solution if you're sleepy at night and still have work to do,' he said. 'Reading a couple of these stories is as good as a cup of coffee.'
随着视频游戏，电视节目和电影占据人们的消遣时间，就连中国领导人也不禁开始担心国民的阅读兴趣问题，而微小说的魅力适时绽放。同样创作短篇小说的阎连科去年获布克国际文学奖(Man Booker International Prize)提名，他开玩笑说中国政治领导人是微小说的理想读者。他说，在一个还有工作要做而你已经昏昏欲睡的夜晚，微小说是不错的提神剂，读上几篇微小说的感觉就像喝了杯咖啡。
Mr. Lao traced the origins of Chinese flash fiction to the Qing Dynasty, when Pu Songling wrote hundreds of short stories. But humor is a new addition to the genre, he said, noting that the actual Chinese word for humor -youmo-is relatively new. The younger generation of readers, who have 'sharper tongues and better comedy skills than their predecessors,' has propelled these works.
劳马将中国微小说的起源追溯至清朝，当时蒲松龄创作了数百篇短篇小说。但是，他说幽默是这种体裁的新元素，同时指出实际上中文的“幽默”一词出现相对较晚。同前辈相比，年轻一代的读者言语更尖锐，喜剧技巧也更纯熟，正是他们推助了幽默小说的发展。
One of the hurdles flash fiction faces is finding legitimacy in a culture that views the strength of novels by their thickness. Mr. Lao offered up the comparison that full-length novels are tigers, while short stories are 'near rats.' In his forward to 'Individuals,' he cites Chinese writer and 2012 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan as saying a novel with less than 200,000 words lacks dignity. 'I personally do not see direct correlation between the length of fiction and its quality,' Mr. Lao said.
微小说面临的一个障碍是，在将小说厚度等同于思想深度的文化中寻求正统地位。劳马将长篇小说比喻为老虎，短篇小说则是四处躲藏的老鼠。谈到对《个别人》的看法，他援引2012年诺贝尔文学奖(Nobel literature)得主中国作家莫言的话说，没有二十万字以上的篇幅，长篇小说就缺少应有的威严。劳马说，但我个人并不认为小说的长度和质量有直接关系。
Mr. Yan echoed Mr. Lao's sentiments, adding that the real death of civilization comes when it no longer has laughter. 'Xi Jinping is asking where the time has gone,' Mr. Yan said. 'What he should be asking is where all the laughter has gone.'
阎连科对劳马的观点表示赞同，并说如果不再有笑声，那才是文明真正死去的时刻。他说，习近平问：时间都去哪儿了？我觉得他应该问：幽默去哪儿了？